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Mebane, NC -- A North Carolina woman, in need of a kidney transplant, has taken her search to Facebook.

Shari Vassello, who's the children's librarian at the Mebane Public Library, has Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD). It's a genetic disease that causes her kidneys to become enlarged and lose function. There is no cure for PKD and likely within a year, Vassello will have to go on kidney dialysis.

Vassello is on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, but she'll be waiting five to seven years to get one.

"I have teenagers. I want to be able to travel. I want to be able to live my life. I don't want to be hooked up to a machine," said Vassello.

When Vassello was diagnosed with PKD at age 22, she was still healthy.

"It's something I've had to think about for most of my life, but I never had to deal with," she said.

However, now 49 years old, her story is different. Her kidneys are only functioning at 20 to 25 percent.

"When my doctor asked me, do you have a donor? I'm like, woah, what do I need a donor for? Then I realized, this is serious," she said.

Vassello saw that someone in Charlotte found a donor on Facebook and decided she could do that too.

With the help of her family, they created her Facebook page, "Shari(ng) a Life".

Vassello said she watcher her father, who also had PKD, go through kidney failure.

"It was frightening. I didn't want to experience that. I don't want to go on dialysis. I don't want to be hooked up to a machine for three or four hours a day, three times a week," she said.

She hopes her Facebook page can help her find a donor before she has to go on dialysis. It's already helped her find hope.

"There are so many people that recognize the need and they're aware now of Shari's story They're all positive. They're gung-ho for her," said her husband Doug Vassello.

"I want my life back. And I feel like this is a possibility. It might work. And all it takes is one match, one match. And then it will change the whole course of my life," she said.

Vassello needs to find a donor with type O blood and in good health. For a confidential conversation about becoming a donor, contact Duke Transplant Services, Vanessa Neal, 919-613-7777.

You can also visit her page "Sharing a Life" on Facebook.com for more information.